Batsmen often talk about not letting bowlers get into a groove; After
Ahmedabad (176) India’s bowlers obviously had similar conversations about
Alastair Cook. In that first Test, the England captain cut the Indian attack
to ribbons. India have since realised that the cut is Cook’s favoured shot
and tried to starve him of it by bowling fuller. As a result, the
left-hander’s wagon wheels have become progressively more varied in Mumbai
(122) and Calcutta (136*). The problem is that Cook’s sweep (a
shot he hardly employed in Ahmedabad) has become almost as productive as
his cut and he is using